Yeji ferry accident: Tree stumps to be removed

Following Sunday’s boat disaster on the Volta River, the Pru District Security Committee (DISEC) will meet Tuesday May 31 to deliberate on ways to prevent another ferry accident, including plans to remove tree stumps in the water body.

The latest accident on the river involved a canoe, carrying 67 persons. The boat capsised after hitting a tree stump, resulting in the death of six children. Three other passengers remain unaccounted for.

The navy and members of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) have launched efforts to rescue the victims.

Speaking on Ghana Yensom on Monday May 30, a day after the disaster, Mr Emmanuel Kwame Poku said the navy and DISEC will convene a meeting on Tuesday to investigate the circumstances of the accident and to draw up strategies to effectively forestall the occurrence of further incidents.

He said some security measures had been devised sometime back after similar accidents in the past, to prevent the loss of lives on the river, but persons crossing the river had failed to abide by established rules. He mentioned that there was regulation forbidding the crossing of the river after 6pm, while the navy had been positioned at loading points at the banks of the river to check overloading of boats, yet people always managed to break such laws.

He said another safety measure, which his assembly had undertaken in the past, was the purchase of 400 life jackets for distribution to passengers to save lives in the event of an accident on the Volta River. Transport owners were also expected to purchase some life jackets to complement what the assembly had supplied, but most had refused to do so. He also bemoaned the attitude of many passengers who refused to wear life jackets offered them, with the excuse that they felt too warm in them.

“Many don’t wear it; they just hang it around their necks,” he complained to Chief Jerry Forson, host of the show.

He said to also improve security on the river, the assembly would soon carry out an exercise to remove the numerous tree stumps before the rains fully set in. “I agree this is the time to cut them,” he stated.